


the rain came down in shades of grey

by bloodandcake



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bigotry & Prejudice, Character Study, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-27
Updated: 2017-04-27
Packaged: 2018-10-24 14:37:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10743711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bloodandcake/pseuds/bloodandcake
Summary: Zacharias Smith has, on multiple occasions and by many different people, been told that he’s not a nice boy.





	the rain came down in shades of grey

Zacharias Smith has, on multiple occasions and by many different people, been told that he’s not a nice boy.

To be quiet honest, he doesn’t really care, because what exactly is a nice boy, anyway? How do you recognize one? What are the signs?

Smiles, perhaps, he thinks. But if only people wo smile all day like they’re six year old girls who just got a pony for christmas are considered nice, than their opinion of him is no wonder.

Zacharias doesn’t smile much. He’s not depressed or anything, just someone who doesn’t smile if there’s no reason for it, and, since he’s not exactly an optimist, he doesn’t see many reasons. 

He’s still got friends, though, or at least people he gets along with. There’s Ernie and Justin, two Hufflepuff boys his age who are the ones he spends most of his time with, and there’s Hannah Abbott, whom he’s pretty sure he’s got a crush on. Hannah’s pretty, blonde pigtails and bright blue eyes. She’s one of those smiling people, but with her, he doesn’t really mind that.

.

Or maybe the reason why they say he’s not a nice person is simply just the fact that Zacharias absolutely can’t stand Gryffindors.

_Then why don’t you just go off to Slytherin?,_ one of them - Seamus Finnigan, he thinks - once snapped at him, _I’m sure you’d fit in just fine._

And this is exactly the reason why he can’t stand them. If Seamus hadn’t walked away immediately after saying those words, Zacharias would have laughed at him. Laughed and told him: _That’s not how it works, man. Not everyone you don’t like belongs in Slytherin._

Because here is what Gryffindors always assume: That the good people belong in Gryffindor, the ones they don’t get along with and therefore claim they’re bad belong in Slytherin, and the ones in between in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff. But they’re wrong, so very wrong. 

Slytherin is for the cunning and ambitious. Zacharias is neither cunning nor ambitious. So he’s not a Slytherin. He is a hard worker and likes fair play. So he’s a Hufflepuff. Period.

.

Besides, Zacharias may not be the Slytherins’ biggest fan, considering that many of them - and by many he means Malfoy, Goyle and the other death eater spawns - love to mock other houses, but he just doesn’t see what’s wrong with putting oneself before others.

He also _knows_ that they aren’t all bad, because one day he meets someone wo isn’t.

It’s a girl. A year younger than him, he believes, the younger one of the Greengrass sisters, and she bumps into him while entering the Great Hall, which causes him to let something he carries fall down.

_Oh, I’m sorry,_ she apologizes - _apologizes!_ \- then picks it up for him and hurries after her sister’s impatient calls ( _Astoria, come on! What are you doing?_ ).

He stares at her back, surprised, and thinks that he’s quite sure Astoria is one of those people everyone considers nice.

She’s also pretty with her porcelain skin and dark chocolate hair. Not like Hannah, in a different way. Perhaps even prettier than Hannah.

He wonders if it’s possible to have two crushes at the same time, but quickly dismisses the thought.

It’s not like it matters, anyway.

.

(Or does it?)


End file.
